Like everyone else, Steve Cherundolo could barely stomach Game 7 of the World Series.
Unfolding the night prior to his team’s second MLS Cup playoff contest, the Los Angeles Football Club head coach was in Austin, Texas, where a few players and staff, including general manager John Thorrington, experienced the unbelievable World Series finale between the Dodgers and Blue Jays.
“That was not for fainthearted people,” Cherundolo said. “That was amazing. That was crazy. I think the Dodgers had won it and lost it twice in a matter of a half hour. So that was wild.”
As the Dodgers’ clincher grew later and crazier, the 46-year-old American and a member of the US Soccer Hall of Fame, adjourned to his room, where he also kept tabs on a couple of MLS Western Conference playoff games.
In the immediate aftermath of Yoshinobu Yamamoto inducing a game-ending double play to win in 11 innings, Cherundolo’s first thoughts turned to Peter Guber, the 83-year-old media mogul whose success in sports and life includes ownership stakes in LAFC and the Dodgers.
“I was just really happy for him because he’s an incredible owner and so helpful to all of us,” Cherundolo said. “It’s not a coincidence that everything he touches turns into gold, so I was happy for him.”
Guber, a key figure for LAFC as it moved from an expansion team in 2018 to a perennial contender in MLS and beyond, ranks high among the successful Angelenos with whom Cherundolo has engaged during his four-year run in a city where winning is the currency that cashes.
Since replacing Bob Bradley to become LAFC’s second head coach, Cherundolo repeatedly managed World Cup-winning veterans, some of the game’s biggest names, established MLS veterans and young talent to the bank.
“If you achieve that, the city pays it back tenfold,” Cherundolo said. “Those are things I definitely learned here. But it’s work. You need to be on top of things all the time. You have to be pivoting. You always have to work towards winning something big. I think here at LAFC what we’ve been able to do over the last four years is create internally a growth and a winning mentality and I’m very positive and sure that that will stay when I’m gone.”
In the spring, Cherundolo informed LAFC that the 2025 season would be his last as head coach. The decision was a couple months in the making, and the choice to return to Germany with his wife and two daughters came down to a desire to lead a team in Europe, where the outside pressure of being the only game in town will take on a heightened sensation.
“There’s no escaping it,” said Cherundolo, a former defender who played his entire club career in Germany. “Here there is escape and it allows you to work in a different fashion. You can work under less artificial pressure from the outside.”
After four years operating in L.A.’s less intense soccer environment, Cherundolo welcomed that his next step means more attention while grabbing a coffee or going grocery shopping.
Constant critique and criticism is a part of German culture, though it is often well minded, he said, an effort to improve.
“If you see glass as half empty, it’s hard to deal with that constantly,” he said.
Evaluating Cherundolo’s LAFC tenure by the numbers, even his harshest critic could concede that the glass runneth over:
7: Competitions (MLS regular season, postseason, U.S. Open, Leagues Cup, CONCACAF, Campeones Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup) for Cherundolo-led teams, which have a 104-50-39 overall record, winning five trophies and reaching seven finals along the way.
59.5%: regular season points-won percentage. Cherundolo secured the most wins and points for a coach through 50 MLS games in 2023, and was the only one above 60% at the time.
150: MLS record for games after an MLS record third straight 50-game season. LAFC is 81-43-28 over that stretch heading into the conference semifinal Saturday.
Cherundolo is the only coach to win the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup in his debut season. He’s the only coach to reach the CONCACAF Champions League and MLS Cup finals in the same season, accomplishing that in 2023.
After his 100th win for LAFC in all competitions at the end of September in St. Louis, Cherundolo redirected whatever recognition came his way onto his staff and the organization.
“It’s something we should all share,” he said. “That I’m very proud of.”
Cherundolo did the same following LAFC’s epic win over Club America to qualify for the Club World Cup.
“My personal legacy isn’t really important,” he said that night. “Personally, I get joy out of seeing our team functioning at the highest level possible.”
Select players were informed before Cherundolo’s departure was revealed April 18, and inside the dressing room as well as in front of microphones the reaction across the roster was unanimous.
“We’re happy for him,” captain Aaron Long said following a 3-3 draw in Portland the day after the news broke. “He’s a fantastic coach. He’s been amazing since he’s been here. No one has more wins or trophies since 2022, since he came into the league, so he’s gotta be happy with that. He’s just a great guy. We’re excited for him and his next venture.”
In the intervening months, Cherundolo said he didn’t experience a dip in his energy, motivation and commitment, nor did he get anything like that from the players and club.
Reaching the conference semifinals for a fourth consecutive season comes with a touch of irony for an outgoing coach who dealt with massive roster turnover over consecutive seasons that required using 75 different players, second most in MLS over that time.
Despite Cherundolo’s departure, whether that comes Saturday or with the MLS Cup final Dec. 6, LAFC’s roster moving forward should look quite like it does now.
“It makes me very happy that the next person in charge has a very intact group, a very good group,” Cherundolo said. “This will be the first time in the last four years that you can build on that. And great for LAFC, great for L.A., not so good for the rest of the league.
“That makes me very happy that I can pass on a functioning team and organization and way of working that we have documented giving the next staff or person in charge a blueprint of how to do things. And how that is used is up to the next person, but I know there’s a working blueprint there that makes me proud and happy.”